Description
This paper investigates the continual re/inscription of militaristic aesthetics and values in and through the cultural landscapes during Pakistan’s experience of the Global War on Terror (GWoT). From a theoretical standpoint, it advances the analysis of non-Western militarism using the case of Pakistan, while also engaging with the critical scholarship on Western liberal polities (Stavrianakis and Selby 2012; Basham 2013; Ahall 2011; Bacevich 2005; etc.). It argues that contemporary developments in everyday militarism of Pakistani society arise from a twofold impact of the history of engrained domestic militarism (Shah 2014; Shah 2011) and the US-led policies in the Middle East and South Asia intensified by the GWoT (Mukherjee 2017; Muherjee 2011). The case of Pakistan offers a unique opportunity to explore the forays of military governments in the management of popular culture through such unorthodox measures as the liberalisation of electronic media (Hassan 2017) and an increase in production and circulation of the military–generated media content (i.e. films, documentaries, tv-series, music videos, etc) aimed at popular audiences. In doing so, this paper draws upon the analysis of an acclaimed action-thriller titled ‘Waar’ (To strike) which was facilitated by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) - the media wing of Pakistan Military - during the GWoT. The film is a stylised depiction of events surrounding Pakistan’s Counter-Terrorism Efforts. Using Visual Discourse Analysis, Semi-structured interviews, and field notes to analyse the film, the paper examines the subtle mechanisms and discourses in the popular culture of Pakistan that have imbibed and sustained ‘militarised subjectivities’ during the War on Terror. In this vein, it deconstructs how the hegemonic power of the military diffuses through the construction and contestation of heroes, victims, and enemies, which are made in/visible and notable within the national imagining. It will further contribute to understanding how in/visibility of Pakistan’s War on Terror articulated with other political and cultural structures, processes, and practices of social power to determine the limits of what can be thought, talked, and written of in a normal and rational way in Pakistan.
